Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Walbourne, it is a pleasure to meet you twice in such a short time.
As a member of the veterans affairs committee, I can tell you that the information you gave us was very useful to me during the week after our meeting. I met three different groups of veterans and I think I gave them some measure of hope.
I am the MP for Saint-Jean. The Royal Military College and the military base are in my riding. Members of the military move around a great deal. You said that members of the military were experiencing unreasonable financial losses from the sale of their homes. My colleague talked about this earlier. Since home prices vary from one region to another, force members arriving from other parts of the country often have to pay more for a house in Saint-Jean. So they suffer losses that are not covered. Moreover, force members do not have very much time to find a house.
In addition, the forces should cover certain costs to allow force members to go see a house or other accommodations. I think they are allowed three visits. If they leave before the end of their posting, the costs add up.
Some property developers have come to see me to suggest building housing stock including houses and other accommodations. Since the price would be based on market conditions, people would know what it is. These developers would offer a service to show people this standard housing by video. In addition, there would be no penalty for people leaving before the end of their tour since there would be constant turnover.
Might that be a more efficient system so that the forces and their members would not lose money?